UN Experts Don’t Understand Sport (Nor Human Rights)
On the 31st October, a group of UN Special Procedures mandate holders, who are independent, unpaid, voluntary experts, published a policy position urging states and other stakeholders ‘to uphold the ideal of sport that is inclusive of LGBT and intersex persons’. Miroslav Imbrišević has studied the policy position in detail and has found many questionable points of departure and objectionable conclusions.
Horse- and riding-related injuries among youth riders in Sweden
In this feature article, Klara Boije af Gennäs presents her Ph.D. project at Malmö University Her main concern is the prevalence and severity of injuries in youth equestrian sports, and not only acute injuries from riding accidents but also overuse injuries resulting from hard labor in the stable. Applying a multi- and interdisciplinary research approach as well as a mix of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, her aim is to extend and strengthen the understanding of stable- and riding injuries among youth equestrians.
Tryghed og konkurrence: kan modsætninger mødes?
Hur kan man finna trygghet i att göra fel? De två idrottspsykologerna Morten Bertelsen, F.C. København, och Camilla Goul, Viborg FF, har i sina klubbar arbetat med att skapa psykologisk trygghet för spelarna. Amy Edmondson har utvecklat den moderna forskningen inom psykologisk trygghet, där fenomenet är nära relaterat till inlärning, anpassning till förändring och förbättrad prestation. Här berättar artikelförfattarna hur och med vilka resultat de tillämpat Edmontons idéer i sina respektive klubbar.
Bibliography of Finnish Sports Journalism: A Review
In February 2023, a bibliography of Finnish sports journalism was launched as an outcome of a project carried out in the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä. The site also presents key concepts and characteristics of sports journalism and sports media, as well as the history of Finnish sports journalism. Vi asked Veera Ehrlén to review the site. She applauds the initiative and the outcome, but she also highlights a few weaknesses, for instance regarding the treatment of female sports journalism.
How not to study bias
Torsten Skov read an article in Sport Management Review that challenges the idea that the relatively low demand for women’s professional soccer is due to the poor quality of female players’ technical performance. Central to the argument in the article is that evaluations of sports are biased by gender stereotypes, and the authors attempt to show this through an experiment. However, as Torsten Skov shows, bias is a tricky phenomenon to study.
From nature conservation to climate threats: Outdoor recreation organizations’ work with ecological sustainability
Earlier this year, Mistra Sport & Outdoors presented a report by Larneby, Fredman, Radmann & Hedenborg outlining how different Swedish outdoors organizations work with ecological sustainability and how nature and environment are related. One conclusion from the study is that outdoor organizations have a great potential to further develop their sustainability work since it already is established. Click below to read the report Summary, in English or Swedish.
Seduced by Open Access capitalism? When the cure is worse than the disease
This essay by Dr. Ulrik Wagner critically examines some forms of Open Access journal publishing that are currently gaining momentum. Dr. Wagner argues that the cure, in the form of various open access publishing outlets, are often worse than the disease – i.e., the power of the scholarly publishing oligopoly. The aim of the essay is to encourage critical reflection and foster debate about our publishing patterns, options and choices.
Motorik, kognition och lärande
I det här öppna brevet till politiker, skolledare, elever och föräldrar argumenterar Ingegerd Ericsson för en ökning av fysisk aktivitet i skolan, i organiserad form och ledd av utbildade idrottslärare, samt därtill också särskilt stöd till elever med bristande motoriska färdigheter. Hon hänvisar till den omfattande forskning som entydigt påvisar sambanden mellan fysisk aktivitet och inlärningsförmåga; kring detta råder stor konsensus bland forskare världen över.
Netball Australia should and can do better with First Nations players
Although netball is highly popular among Australian girls, it also has a history of failing to retain and protect First Nations players. In this article, Professor Jim McKay shows that not only does Netball Australia fail to attract First Nations talents at the grassroots level and promote them to the national teams, but in the few cases that they do they fail to include and protect them and keep them at that level.
When Ideology Trumps Science: A response to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s...
A group of scientists and humanities scholars has written an expert commentary about the recently published ‘Scientific Review’ by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport about transwomen’s participation in female sport. The CCES Review, claim the authors, doesn’t deserve its name; it is wholly unscientific, another attempt to replace materially based eligibility criteria in sport with ‘social identity’ as a passport to inclusion, and they highlight its shortcomings in methodology, and its sometimes incoherent, sometimes misleading argumentation.